[General Woundwort]

UE, I'm guessing this came from Stratfor, right?

It gets even better. Turns out the Ambassador's wife (Saudi Amb to US) is a real Wahhabist firebrand...

The problem is at the center of power, in the person of prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz, minister of the interior and the real ruler of the country; he's the uncle of the Saudi ambassador to the U.S., Prince Bandar bin Sultan.

Yet notwithstanding continuing revelations about Saudi funding of terror, Bandar remains untouchable in Washington, along with his wife, Princess Haifa. Although her convoluted financial links to Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar, the two lead hijackers among the 15 Saudis out of the 19 9/11 terrorists, attracted widespread attention late Last year, she somehow fell through the cracks when the congressional report on the terror conspiracy was recently released. The sojourn of al-Hazmi and al-Mihdhar in San Diego was reexamined, but Princess Haifa's Islamic covering billowed out, masking her from renewed publicity.

This is appropriate, if immoral, because Princess Haifa has much more to hide than her propensity for charity to terrorists. To certain defenders of the Saudi monarchy, any discussion of Princess Haifa is an unspeakable insult. James Zogby of the Arab American Institute, which once paraded itself as a legitimate and moderate advocacy group for those loyal to American institutions and concerned for peace, has become especially strident on this issue. Recently, he loudly decried how "the donations made by Saudi Princess Haifa to 'needy Saudi women' [have] been transformed into a scandal."

But no magic was necessary to "transform" Princess Haifa into a paragon of Wahhabi obscurantism and anti-Western hatred. It is well-known among Saudis residing in this country that the princess compels the wives of Saudi diplomats in Washington to attend "lectures" intended to reinforce their Wahhabi bigotry and contempt for the West, the better to "protect" them from temptation during their time as our guests. It is similarly notorious that the religious-affairs section of the Saudi embassy, a black hole of Wahhabi hatemongering, enjoys a separate status, with immense financial resources and extraordinary powers, which it abuses to foster Wahhabism in America through, among other channels, Saudi-controlled "Islamic academies" — i.e., locally accredited primary and secondary schools. Prince Bandar's closest associates within the diplomatic staff are troglodytic Wahhabis who don't speak English and have no interest in the affairs or sensibility of Americans.

Full Disclosure - quote is from Send Bandar Home: The U.S. can change the face of Saudi Arabia, by Stephen Schwartz

EDIT - correct spelling of "Wahhabist"

[ August 28, 2003, 13:01: Message edited by: General Woundwort ]